


Seasonings

by panpipe



Category: Super Junior
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-16
Updated: 2008-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpipe/pseuds/panpipe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heechul likes things spicy, not sweet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seasonings

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://panpipe.livejournal.com/83340.html#cutid1).

Heechul knows why Hankyung brings Joomyuk to him. He knows, and he understands, but it still makes him angry and hostile. Hankyung thinks Joomyuk will help with Heechul's boredom, will help with the fact that Heechul is cooped up in a hospital room when he should be working, and he thinks that Heechul can help Joomyuk by being someone he can talk to, because Heechul has always had a knack for understanding broken Korean. He wouldn't have been such good friends with Hankyung from the start if that weren't true.

Joomyuk's Korean isn't anywhere near as awful as Hankyung's was, but Joomyuk seems reluctant to talk.

"He's shy," Hankyung had warned him. "He's a sweet guy, but extremely shy. He's embarrassed by his Korean, you know. He's used to being good at things."

Heechul thinks that's a retarded reason to be nice to someone.

 

Heechul never really learns Joomyuk's name.

"Seasoning," Heechul whines, "change the TV channel for me."

Joomyuk smiles patiently at Heechul. "The remote is next to your bed, hyung; I left it there for you."

Heechul drops onto his hospital bed dramatically. "I'm too weak," he says, his voice plaintive, and flops an arm over his eyes. When a few seconds pass and Heechul's cry hasn't gotten a response, he slightly lifts his arm and opens one eye to peer at where Joomyuk was sitting.

 _Was_ sitting, because, just as Heechul had hoped, Joomyuk is now seated beside Heechul's bed, remote control in hand.

Joomyuk smiles again, and asks, "What do you want to watch instead?"

 

It becomes a ritual, somehow, that after an intense day of Korean, dancing, and singing lessons, Joomyuk visits Heechul in the hospital, only to be bossed and ordered around even more, doing everything Heechul tells him to with a smile.

 

Heechul is starting to get annoyed. He doesn't like it when things are too easy, when people are too easy, because he knows no one is this nice or patient. And even if they really are, he doesn't like the thought of anyone being a better person than he is.

Even Hankyung started to bite out retorts from time to time, and so Heechul asks, voice harsher than he means it to be, "Why do you do everything I tell you?"

Joomyuk shrugs, and smiles that same glowing smile as always. "Hankyung-hyung told me to look after you."

 _That_ makes Heechul angry. He doesn't need a babysitter, and if that's what Hankyung thinks he needs, why doesn't _Hankyung_ watch over Heechul? Why send Joomyuk to do his dirty work?

"Do you always always do as you're told?" he asks bitterly.

This time, Joomyuk's smile changes. It's not easy and open, but sly and secretive instead. "No," is all he says, and Heechul can't help but feel intrigued.

He likes things that aren't what they seem.

 

Heechul has started to watch Joomyuk more closely. He can tell at least fifteen different smiles apart now--blandly amused, content, extremely amused, shy, embarrassed, and so on. But the two that Heechul can't stop thinking about are the sly and the secretive ones, because they seem so very out of character for his Seasoning.

Hankyung had told Heechul that Joomyuk was sweet and shy ("Gross," had been Heechul's immediate response), but the more time Heechul spends around Joomyuk, the more he begins to doubt that Hankyung's assessment is entirely correct.

 

When Joomyuk enters the dorm room weeks later, after Heechul has completely recovered (though continuing to order Joomyuk about), Heechul is in a rage.

"He thinks he can just leave? Just like that?" Heechul screams as Joomyuk shuts the door. "Just who does he think he is, Seasoning? _Who_?"

Joomyuk stands in front of the door, unsure how he should respond.

Heechul throws his alarm clock at him.

Joomyuk has gotten very good at dodging things.

"Who are we discussing, hyung?" he asks calmly, smiling, bending down to pick up the alarm clock.

Unsure smile, Heechul notes absentmindedly. The thought calms Heechul, though he's sure the look on his face still seems murderous.

When he actually says the words, though, his eyes become hollow.

"Hankyung," he says. "Hankyung is going back to China."

"Oh," Joomyuk says. "Oh, the new subgroup, I--"

"I can't believe he's just leaving me alone here. Siwon is going too, you know. And Kibum's no fun, especially when he's so busy working." Heechul looks up at Joomyuk. "Can you believe the nerve of them? Going off to some stupid country like China to work?"

Joomyuk's smile is thin at the insult (Well, it's _true_ , so he's not going to take it back, Heechul thinks), but he still puts a hand on Heechul's shoulder, and pats it softly. "What do you want to watch today, hyung?"

 

Heechul corners Joomyuk after he leaves the rehearsal room a few afternoons later. "You aren't rehearsing with the other trainees like you normal do," he says, picking idly at his fingernails.

"I know," Joomyuk says simply, and doesn't look Heechul in the eyes.

"You're rehearsing with Hankyung. And Siwon. And everyone else going to China."

Joomyuk sighs, doesn't look at him, but answers, "Yes."

Heechul's nostrils flare in anger, and he stalks off. He doesn't see the smile that leaves Joomyuk's face, which was never really there in the first place.

 

They leave. Hankyung has returned to China, all smiles and talking about his parents. Siwon is excited to practice his Chinese. Ryeowook keeps staring at Henry, and Donghae is just excited about everything, which isn't any different from normal.

Joomyuk doesn't say goodbye. He tries, but Heechul ignores the pounding on his door that lasts even as he hears a manager screaming that they'll be late for the plane.

 

Joomyuk walks in to Hankyung's room to find him in a video conference with Heechul.

"Oh, sorry," he says, and walks out.

Sad smile, Heechul notes.

Hankyung narrows his eyes. "I thought I told you to be his friend," he says.

"When did you start acting like my mother?" Heechul bites off, annoyed.

Hankyung sighs. "When you started acting like a child, you idiot."

Heechul glares.

 

It's really dumb, Heechul thinks, that he's come to miss Joomyuk's smile.

It must just be some strange face obsession that makes Heechul call for Joomyuk specifically. Or maybe some strange desire to see what kind of smile he's wearing right now. Is it the happy one? How dare he be happy if Heechul isn't there, he thinks bitterly.

But, really, he's not sure why he video conferences Joomyuk, he just knows that he _really_ wants to, and Ryeowook's advice from a few nights before had started to sound really good.

"Just drink away your sorrows," he'd said. "That's what I do."

He should have known better. All of Ryeowook's advice ends in getting trashed.

"They're dumb," he slurs over his computer. "The songs are dumb, the dance is dumb; everything is dumb. Trot was better."

"Yes," Joomyuk agrees good-naturedly.

"I could have made time for it, you know. It sucks without me. You need me there," he slurs some more. "But you're not worth my time, not with songs like that."

"Yes," Joomyuk agrees.

After a pause, Heechul says, "I still want to be a part of it."

"I know," Joomyuk replies, and smiles softly.

Understanding smile #4, Heechul thinks, which means Joomyuk really means it.

"I like you, Seasoning," he says suddenly, and he's not sure what makes him say it, but he's drunk enough that he's not embarrassed by it.

"I know," Joomyuk says, and smiles wider.

It's a smile Heechul hasn't seen before.

 

When Heechul wakes up the next morning and remembers what he said, he doesn't make any overseas calls for two weeks.

 

Super Junior M arrives to perform with everyone for the SM Town Concert in Shanghai, and the first thing Joomyuk does is stop by Heechul's room.

Heechul stares at him, and then looks at the bags in Joomyuk's hands. It's obvious he came straight from the airport into Heechul's room.

"Why do you always do everything I say?" he asks, for the second time in their acquaintance, but this time, it sounds as if it means more.

Sly and secretive smile, Heechul notes, but then-- Joomyuk actually answers with, "Because I like you, hyung."

"Oh," Heechul says, expressionless.

And then he smirks. "Oh. Good."

 

Heechul doesn't like sweet things, so when Heechul pretends to gnaw on Joomyuk's ear during the concert, Hankyung laughs in stunned surprise, because it's as if Heechul is _marking Joomyuk as his_ , and--

And then Donghae falls down, and Hankyung's focus shifts to laughing even harder and helping Donghae stand.

Heechul shares a sly smile with Joomyuk, and then goes back to performing.


End file.
